Nonglare lens for headlights



Aug. 26, 1930. H. B. WALTHERS NONGLARE LENS FOR HEADLIGHTS Filed Jan. 18, 1929 w z w Patented Aug. 26, 1930 UNITED STATES IPJIATENT ounce HARRY 1B. wamnnas, or OMAHA, NEBRASKA NONGLABE Lens roa HEADLIGHTS Application filed. January 18, 1929. Serial No. 333,451.

This invention relates to improvements in supporting ring for the lens ;-'-'this view being lenses for headlights and has reference to a taken on line 66, Fig. 7; and headli ht lens construction adapted for use Fig. 7 is a section taken on line 7-7, Fig. 6. with t e ordinary automobile headlights. In the drawing reference numeral 1 repre- 5 For night driving1 of automobiles, it is senitsfihe lens whigh is made in the shape of 65 hi hly desirable to ave the lights so cona 'is or pan an has conical sides 2 that str ucted'tha't the road will be illuminated as telrlmingte in outwardly extending flanges 3. bri htl as ossible and that the illumina; T ese an 'es are adapted to serve as means tioils wi ll ext end to both sides of the road and for attacliiiig the lens to the lamp housing 4 1 tofa considerable distance to the front, and by the same means now employed for hold- 60 at the same time, it is essential that there ing the ordinary flat lens in place. Numeral shall be as little objectionable glare as pos- 5 designates the ordinary parabolic reflector, sible to interfere with the drivers of apand 6 represents the automobile headlight roaching vehicles. lamp. I

P It is the object of this invention to produge gin she ogdinary autboriiobiile l feadliglht the a lens of a simple construction that can e re ec ors are para o 01 s o revo ution applied to an ordinary automobile headlighz wltlh tlileir clpnclalve siiiirfaces silsverled sfcl as td and which will ive a 00d illumination 0 ma e t em ig y re ective. uc re ectors the road and wi ll also throw lights transhave the roperty of throwing a cylindrical versely of the road to the full width thereof, beailn off light when tle llilght Eource is lsocaltled without producin any objectionable glare. at t e ocus point 0 t e re ector. no a This inventionfbriefly described, consists fill rz d pleam of light]:l howeger, 1; not in makin a headli ht of a concave or dishsuita e or i uminating t e roa in rent shape and providin g the interior of the lens 1 n a omobile andthercfore the lamp filawith a plurality of shutters, properly s ed ment is ad usted so as to he either to the front andh lying in P12118181 malfidntg slighghazlgtl}? g1 t0 thie Iear Of tlfi: fpcaltpgiit the refleci wit t e axes o t e re ec or so a e or, an 1 1s usua y oca e e rear ant light will be reflected towards the right hand therefore raysof light as theyemerge from side of the road and so that the shutters will the reflector diverge. These diverging rays I 30 form obstructions which prevent glare from W1ll, when they strike the eye of an approach- 8 I reaching the eyes of approaching drivers. I 1 g driver, Cause an lntense glare which :has

I Order t more l l d ig hth :fbhndanggzfiect, and-which lsafruitful cause vention so that the construction an t eman- 911 r ner in which it functions can be most read- B 15 the l thls l l as above r il understood reference will now be had to P0111ted out, to f y the lens 111 Such a W y d h th that the rays of 11 ht that would otherwise e accom an in rawin in w 1c e 111- vention ha b en llustrate d and in which: produce Oblectlonagle glare W111 reflected Fi 1 is a Section taken on line Fig downwardly and towards the right of the 2 t k n n line f road, and Wlll thereby become converted 1nto 40 3 asec 10.11 a e useful light instead of forming objectionable Fig. 3 1s a detail showing a modlfied form glare in the Ordinary manner. I r of cimstrllctloll of shultersj v In order to produce the result desired, I Flg. 4 1s a view looking in the direction of have provided the improved reflector with a arrofw aF plurality of shutters 7, which extend ver- 45 Fig. 5 1s a section similar to that shown lIl ticauy when thelens is in place and which 1 but shows e r attached to a are all inclined with respectto the axis of metal frame that 1s inserted 1nt0 the lens; th r fl t r, so that any rays of light ex- Fig. 6 is a view showing a modified form tendin parallel with the axis of the rep of construction in which theshutters are atflector? will strike the reflecting surface 8 tached to a metal frame which also forms a of the shutters and be directed towards the right hand side of the road. When the lamp is adjusted so as to throw divergent rays the rays which would otherwise pass outwardly at the left hand side of a vertical plane passin through the axis of the reflector will be re ected towards the right of the road and the rays of light on the right hand side of this vertical plane will pass outwardly without being interfered with by the shutters. If, on the other hand, the lamp is adjusted so that it will throw converging rays, the light from the right hand side of the vertical plane above referred to, will strike the reflecting surfaces of the shutters and be reflected towards the right of the road, so as to be made useful instead of being dissipated in rays forming objectionable glare.

The shutters have been shown as made from strips of metal of equal width and attached to the inner surface of the lens which has been rovided with grooves 9 for the pur ose of receiving the ends of the shutters.

1y bowed and I consider this a preferable construction as by this means a somewhat greater reflecting action is obtained in connection with the rays nearer the top of the lens than at the center which seems to give better results when the actual illumination is considered. It is however permissible to make the shutters straight in the manner shown in Fig. 5. The shutters, instead of being made from strips of equal Width, may be narrower at the ends than at the middle and the angle which they make with the axis of the re ector, may vary from zero to fifteen degrees. Althou h these shutters have been shown as made rom metal, they may be made from any other suitable material, such as glass and it is desirable to have one side polished so as to form good reflectors, while the op osite sides of the shutters should be painte black. As the sides op osite from the reflecting sides are the ones t at are seen by the approaching driver, it is apparent that as there is no light reflected from these surfaces there can be no glare. When a lens like that shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is em loyed it is apparent that a large amount oi light can pass through the sides 2 and that therefore the light will be thrown towards the sides of the road, so as to light up the entire road surface. At the same time that the light is dispersed to the sides of the roads, it will not form any ob'ectionable glare, for the reason that ve little of this light will be reflected light, ut will come directly from the filament. It is also my intention to sandblast the u per half of the sides 2 of the lenses to ma e them translucent so as to prevent objectionable glare from being produced to the sides. The sides 2 may be provided with bulls e es 10 towards the outside of the automobi e and these may be colored red so as to present a warning signal to cars apig. 1 I have shown the shutters as slight-- amass 1 I roaching at right angles. The inner surfaces ofthe si es 2 below the horizontal plane passing through the axis of the reflector should be nonreflective so as to prevent the light rays that strike these surfaces from being thrown upwardly, while the corresponding surfaces above this horizontal plane may be hightly reflective so as to throw light downwardly u on the road.

In Fig. 5 have shown the shutters 7 secured to a metal ring 11 that fits inside of the lens and which is held in place by means of bolts 12 extending through the ring and through the side of the lens. Small projections 13 may be provided to fit into depressions in the lens so as to hold the ring against rotation. The rings 11, being made of metal, are of course opaque and prevent light from passingihrough the sides. These rings are provided with an opening registering with the bulls eyes 10 so that these will be illuminated. The inner surface of the rings below the horizontal diametrical plane must be covered with a nonrefiective paint, while the upper half of these rings may be reflective.

In Figs. 6 and 7 I have shown a slightly modified construction in which the lens is formed by a flat piece of glass which has been designated by reference numeral 14, this is secured to the open end of a metal ring 15 by means of a clamping ring 16. Ring 15 is provided with an outwardly extending flange 3* which corresponds to the flange-3 on the dish-shaped lens and serves as a means for making attachment between the lens and the headlight housing. The louvers 7 are made exactly like those shown in Fig. 5 and are secured at their ends to ring 15. As rings 15 are opaque they are each provided with an opening which is closed by means of a transparent strip of celluloid 17 of red color so as to form bulls eyes corresponding to bulls eyes 10. The assemblies made as shown in Figs. 6 and 7 are substituted for the glass lens shown in Figs. 1 and2.

In Figs. 3 and 4 I have shown a slight modfication in which the vertical shutters 18 which correspond to shutters 7 and 72 may be provided with a few short laterally extending (portions 19 that assist in directing upwar 1y projecting rays downwardly so as to more effectively prevent the dispersion of light in useless rays. The relative position of one of these projections has been shown in Fig. 6. There may be only a few of these projections located adjacent the top of the lens assembly, or there may be as man as are deemed necessary for the purpose 0 0btaining the results desired.

The shutters that are set into the lens may be straight instead of slanting and the grooves in the lens must, of course, correspond. Where the grooves are straight andthe shutters slanting the shutters are crimped or bent in the manner shown in the drawing.

It is also possible to use holes or indentations in the lens and to provide the ends of the shutters with points or projections that extend into the holes. Im roved results mag be obtained by making I e rear edges of t e shutters nearest the center somewhat concave and applying one or more layers offine mesh wire screen to the shutters over the concave cut-outs. The screen reduces the intensity of the li ht where it passes through the screen an thereby reduces the tendency to produce glare. From the above description it will be a arent that I have produced a very simp e ens assembly that is eflective for preventmg glare and which is so constructed that practically all of the light is directed onto the road surface so as to be useful and therefore that a greater illumination efiiciency is obtained than when my invention is not emploged.

lthough I have illustrated my invention bymeans of several specific embodiments, I

want it understood that this is for the purpose of explanation only, and that the same results may be obtained b I a specifically different means, which still, owever, fall with-. in the scope of this invention. 7

Having described the invention, whatis claimed as new is:

1. A circular dish-sha ed lens having a sloping side wall provide with an outwardly extending flange, the inner surface of the side wall being provided with a plurality of pairs of grooves, the two ves of each pair being located at the en of chords and shutters aving their ends located in the grooves. up

2. A lens for automobile headli said 40 lens comprising a ass member of (fish-she.

and provided witi a sloping side wall, e inner surface of the side wall having a plurality of pairs of grooves, the two grooves of each pair being at the extremities of a chord, the several pair of grooves being so located that the chords are parallel, and a shutter for each pair of grooves, the opposite ends of each shutter bemglocated in corre- Y sponding grooves of a air. In testimon whereo I aflix my signature.

RRY B. WALTHERS. 

